


Cranberry

by writersstudy



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Implied/Referenced Sex, M/M, Quarantine, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:46:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27185396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writersstudy/pseuds/writersstudy
Summary: Being stuck in quarantine really doesn't phase Kyungsoo. But his weird roommate? That's another story.
Relationships: Do Kyungsoo | D.O/Kim Minseok | Xiumin
Comments: 6
Kudos: 62
Collections: EXO MONSTERFEST 2020





	Cranberry

**Author's Note:**

> Written for EXO MonsterFest!
> 
> Prompt: O120  
> Word Count: 2315
> 
> Notes: This story takes place in a vague nonexistent generic country during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. It is not specific to any one country's response or lack thereof.

Kyungsoo was convinced that he had the weirdest roommate on the face of the planet. He had moved into Minseok’s apartment three years ago and still rarely saw the older man. If he ever left the apartment, it was either after Kyungsoo left and before he got home or in the middle of the night. When Kyungsoo had moved in, Minseok had given him only two rules: clean up after himself and don’t drink his cranberry juice. Kyungsoo thought it was a weird thing to be territorial over, but he also wasn’t particularly tempted to drink straight, unsweetened cranberry juice, so it really wasn’t that much of an inconvenience. Whenever he did see Minseok, the older was always layered up, even in the summer. He was also very pale, almost scarily so, but that wasn’t particularly surprising for someone who never went outside during daylight hours. He didn’t charge Kyungsoo for rent or utilities, he never bought groceries, and Kyungsoo honestly wasn’t even sure that he ever ate anything.

Things had changed in March. The world had gone into lockdown, including Kyungsoo. It wasn’t all bad. He was almost as much of an introvert as Minseok and he had absolutely no issue sitting at home to do his work instead of going to the office every day. Even better, he would finally be able to get to know his roommate. 

“Oh, Kyungsoo, good evening,” Minseok said, finally emerging from his room, “I hadn’t expected to see you. Aren’t you normally at work at this time?” Kyungsoo’s eyebrows furrowed.

“We’re under quarantine,” he said, “you know, the whole global pandemic thing? I’ve been working from home for like two weeks now.”

“Ugh, again?” Minseok complained, “didn’t we just do this? Whatever, it doesn’t matter. I can’t get sick anyway. I’m going out, I need more…juice.”

“I can just add it to our grocery order,” Kyungsoo said, “you really shouldn’t go out, even if you think you’re healthy. The more people that stay home, the faster we’ll get out of this.” Minseok just smiled.

“You’re a good guy, Kyungsoo,” he said, grabbing his jacket.

“At least wear a mask,” Kyungsoo insisted, shoving a blue paper mask into Minseok’s hands, “and don’t stay out too late, okay? It’s cold out and I know you’re always cold.” The older man turned the mask over in his hands before putting it on with a sigh.

“Better?” he asked rhetorically. 

“Is your juice really this important?” Kyungsoo fretted, “really, I can add it to our grocery order, it’s no big deal.”

“It’s…a specialty brand,” Minseok said, “not available in stores. I have to go get it directly from the vendor, and he’s only available in the middle of the night. Thank you for the offer though.” He slid his jacket on and headed out, leaving behind a very confused Kyungsoo. How did Minseok not know about the quarantine? What did he mean by “not again”? How was he so sure that he wouldn’t get sick? And what the hell kind of black-market cranberry juice was he buying?

\-----

Kyungsoo didn’t see Minseok for what felt like weeks after that. The fridge was fully stocked with his specialty cranberry juice, which Kyungsoo had realized was stored in unlabeled glass bottles. It was odd, but so was buying black market middle-of-the-night cranberry juice in the first place, so he tried to forget about it.

Unfortunately, to Kyungsoo’s absolute dismay and dread, the lockdown in their city began to increase. What had started as a simple stay at home order quickly turned into heavily enforced curfews and even landlords physically chaining doors and bolting windows to keep their tenants locked inside. Their landlord was one of these. Kyungsoo had already been having groceries delivered, so he made sure to put a few bottles of unsweetened cranberry juice on the list, as he noticed Minseok’s supply dwindling. 

“That smells good,” Minseok said, emerging as Kyungsoo was cutting up a slab of beef for dinner.

“I haven’t even started cooking yet,” the younger man said with a laugh. Minseok just hummed. 

“I’ll be back in a few hours,” he said. Kyungsoo looked up, startled.

“There’s no way out of the building,” he said, “they locked the doors and bolted the windows a week and a half ago. Are you okay, Minseok? It seems like you keep losing huge chunks of time.”

“I’m fine,” Minseok said, although the smile on his face was tight. He sat on the other side of the kitchen island, watching what Kyungsoo was making.

“Do you want some?” the younger man asked.

“Sure,” Minseok said, “can you keep it rare and leave out the garlic?”

“I can make the marinade without garlic and you can cook your portion however you want,” Kyungsoo said, shooting the older man a smile. 

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Minseok shrugged his coat off and hung it up by the door. He washed his hands in the kitchen sink and leaned on the counter while he waited for Kyungsoo to finish up the marinade.

“You’re good at cooking,” he commented, “I haven’t cooked in forever. You may have to show me how to use the stove.” Kyungsoo’s brow furrowed.

“Do you survive entirely on takeout and juice?” he asked incredulously.

“Ah, something like that,” Minseok said with an awkward laugh.

“That’s really not healthy,” Kyungsoo said, “I don’t mind cooking for you now that we’re both home all the time.”

“Oh, I couldn’t ask you to do that,” Minseok said, “I eat, I promise. And I work out. You don’t need to worry about my health.”

“Alright, if you say so,” Kyungsoo acquiesced. It wasn’t really his place to dictate Minseok’s life decisions anyway. He barely knew the guy. He finished up the marinade and split the meat into two separate bowls, pouring the liquid over both of them. 

“Go ahead and cook yours, I’m just going to take care of these dishes first,” he said, turning toward the sink. When he turned back around, Minseok was at the stove, turning a burner on. Kyungsoo watched in disbelief as he dumped the meat in the pan, moved it around just enough to heat it up, then took it right off. He had barely even cooked it.

“That’s not safe to eat,” he said worriedly.

“It’s beef, you could eat it raw if you wanted,” Minseok said with a shrug, “I’ll be fine.” Kyungsoo cringed. The more he interacted with Minseok, the weirder he found him to be. The insistence that he couldn’t get sick, the black market cranberry juice, and now raw meat and no garlic? It added up to something that Kyungsoo knew was impossible.

“Well, props to you for bravery, I guess,” he said as he took over the stove, “I would be way too nervous to eat it that raw.”

“I just like it as juicy as possible,” Minseok said, with an odd look in his eye. He picked his plate up off the counter.

“Thanks for sharing, Kyungsoo,” he said, “I’m gonna go eat in my room. Holler if you need me.” He disappeared down the hallway, humming to himself.

\---

That was the last time Kyungsoo saw Minseok for nearly a month. He knew the older man was still alive, because the one remaining bottle of cranberry juice was slowly but surely getting depleted. It was just incredible the way they managed to never run into each other. The landlord still had the building completely shut down, which was starting to frustrate even Kyungsoo. It was necessary, of course, but that didn’t make it any easier.

When Kyungsoo did finally see Minseok, he couldn’t help but notice how awful the older man looked. He had clearly lost weight and his skin was pale and sallow, even moreso than usual. Kyungsoo knew there was no way he had the coronavirus, since he couldn’t go outside, but that didn’t stop him from being concerned that something else was going on. 

He was cooking steak again and it seemed like that was what had dragged Minseok out of his room. He made a beeline for the kitchen and looked around until he found the slab of meat on the counter.

“Want some?” Kyungsoo asked carefully. Minseok nodded wordlessly and held a hand out. Kyungsoo blinked. He hadn’t been planning on letting the older man eat raw meat again, but he still found himself feeling compelled to cut off a slice and hand it to Minseok. The older man bit into it, seeming to suck all of the blood out of it before he finally pulled it fully into his mouth and chewed it. 

“You don’t look like you’re feeling too well, hyung,” Kyungsoo said, “are you sure that’s the safest thing to be eating right now?”

“I told you already not to worry about it,” Minseok said crossly, “it’s actually helping me feel better, if you must know.” Kyungsoo stopped what he was doing and looked at the older man with raised eyebrows.

“Okay, what you’re not gonna do is talk to me like that when I’m holding a giant knife,” he said, “I’m just worried about you.” He swiftly cut the steak in half and grabbed a bowl, dropping one half into it and shoving it at Minseok.

“Go be miserable somewhere else,” he ordered. Minseok grumbled but shuffled off to his room with a small thank you.

\----

Kyungsoo did feel bad about the way he had snapped at Minseok and given him cold food. Making beef seemed to be the only way to guarantee seeing the older man, so he decided to give it a week then make it again so he could apologize. Little did he know, it would change everything.

Kyungsoo had dumped the steak on the cutting board and was beginning to cube it for a stir fry (he would get Minseok to eat cooked meat if it killed him) when there was a sudden stinging sensation in his palm. He had cut himself. Kyungsoo turned, intending to wash it off in the sink, when a bony white hand suddenly grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him around. His arm was yanked up and Minseok managed to close his mouth over the wound before Kyungsoo was able to pull away.

“What the  _ fuck _ ?” he shouted, cradling his hand to his chest. He didn’t even care if he was dripping blood onto his nice new cardigan. This had officially gone too far.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” he demanded, but Minseok wasn’t paying attention. His eyes were trained on Kyungsoo’s hand hungrily and...were they red?

“Minseok,” he said shakily, finally grabbing the older man’s attention, “you need to tell me what’s going on,  _ right now _ .” The older man met his eyes and yes, Kyungsoo found that his irises were bright blood red.

“You haven’t figured it out yet?” he asked, “the raw meat, the suspicious bottles in the fridge? C’mon, Kyungsoo, you can’t expect me to believe that you’re that stupid.” 

“No,” Kyungsoo said, “no, this isn’t real, I-I’m hallucinating, I lost too much blood or something. Vampires aren’t real, Minseok.” The older man just grinned, showing off the pointy fangs that were very much sitting in his mouth. Kyungsoo whimpered, slowly sliding to the ground against the fridge. Minseok sat down with him, staying a respectful distance away, although his eyes kept flitting toward Kyungsoo’s hand.

“I’m sorry,” he said genuinely, “this isn’t how I wanted you to find out. I didn’t realize this whole mess would go on so long, or that they’d trap us here like this. I swear, Kyungsoo, I mean you no harm.” Kyungsoo could tell that Minseok wasn’t lying. Taking a shuddery breath, he looked down at his hand and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head when he realized that the cut had not only stopped bleeding but had completely healed. 

“My saliva,” Minseok said by way of explanation, “we aren’t killers, not usually.”

“I-I don’t know what to say,” Kyungsoo finally managed, “your cranberry juice isn’t really juice, is it?” Minseok laughed and shook his head.

“It’s pig’s blood,” he said, “not great, but it’s enough to survive on. I’m not a murderer or anything, Kyungsoo, don’t worry.” Kyungsoo just continued to stare at his hand, using his other index finger to trace over the area where the cut had been.

“God, you must be  _ starving _ ,” he said finally. Minseok took a deep breath and nodded. Kyungsoo seemed conflicted before he suddenly held his arm out toward the older man.

“Go ahead,” he said, seeming much calmer in the blink of an eye, “I’m not going to let you wither away when I can provide what you need.”

“Kyungsoo, you really don’t need to,” Minseok protested, “what I just did was an accident.”

“No, I want to,” Kyungsoo insisted, “it’d be horrible to have to find a new roommate if you starved to death.” Minseok snorted but he slowly moved closer over the linoleum floor. He took Kyungsoo’s arm gingerly in his hands and just held it for a moment before biting into his wrist.

_ Oh _ . It had stung for a moment, but that was it. After that, it almost felt...good? Kyungsoo was losing blood, for sure, but he almost didn’t notice. When Minseok finally pulled away, Kyungsoo realized that he was hard. When did that happen? Kyungsoo jolted when Minseok’s hand suddenly landed on his crotch.

“Let me help with that,” he said. Still dazed, Kyungsoo nodded and allowed the older man to pull him up and down the hall to his bedroom. 

Afterwards, once Kyungsoo had been sated and had eaten something himself, still nestled in Minseok’s bed, he had a moment to think. Minseok was certainly still a weird roommate, even after knowing the truth, but Kyungsoo found that, really, he didn’t mind so much. 


End file.
